Replacing an existing telephone exchange is a very time consuming and costly process. In particular, this is the case if the telephone exchange is an international telephone exchange (ITNC). Existing methods for replacing an operational international telephone exchange are based on the idea that the new ITNC and the old ITNC are running simultaneously during a period that can last for several months or even years. During such a transition period, both ITNC's handle a part of the traffic. As a consequence, the point-codes of both ITNC's have to be known by other operators.
A point-code is used in a signaling network to identify so-called signaling points. A signaling network operates a telecommunication network in such a way that the telecommunication network can transfer user traffic between telephone switches. The signaling information that is exchanged across a signaling network is used for call set-up, congestion control, and many other purposes. Signaling information is also used in Intelligent Networks (IN's). A system for transferring signaling information between telephone switches and/or other network elements in a telecommunication network is called a signaling system. A signaling system is a network consisting of signaling points. A commonly used signaling system is Signaling System No. 7 (SS7). In SS7, the telephone exchanges have assigned a code that is called a “point-code”. Signaling messages contain point-codes for identifying the source (source point-code or SPC) and the destination (destination point-code or DPC) of the signaling message.
The operator, that operates the ITNC that has to be replaced and the new ITNC, should announce the point-code of the new ITNC to the other operators before the replacement process starts. After being informed about the new ITNC, all the other operators have to update their routing tables and their administrations with the new point-code. This task consumes considerable time and effort by the other operators. During a transition phase, other operators will route a part of the traffic to the old ITNC and another part of the traffic to the new ITNC. The amount of traffic that is routed to the old ITNC will be gradually decreased. At the end of the transition phase, all the traffic will be routed to the new ITNC. Different operators can be in different stages during this process. While some operators route their part of the traffic to the old ITNC, other operators already route all their traffic to the new ITNC. It is therefore clear that the existing method for replacing an ITNC is a complex process.
In US 2002/0031145, a method and a software product are disclosed for converting point-codes. This disclosure addresses measures that can be taken when a network-architecture is changed or when problems occur in a network. This is, for example, the case if the status of a telecommunication link in the network-architecture is changed, e.g., as a result of a failure or a network configuration action. In such cases, the signaling system is adjusted to the new situation in the network. This adjustment requires the conversion of point-codes so that telecommunications traffic can be re-routed. A drawback is that the measures according to this prior art do not relate to the replacement of a telephony exchange by another telephony exchange in the network.